UCLA Recruit Withdraws Commitment After Team Gets Crushed On National TV

Immediately following UCLA’s drubbing at the hands of 4-6 Washington, 3-star recruit and LA native Darryl Johnson withdrew his commitment to the Bruins, the LA Times reports.He verbally committed to Oregon State instead.

UCLA lost 24-7 and was thoroughly dominated by fellow Pac-10 disappointment Washington in the nationally televised contest. The Bruins amassed just 163 yards on offence, while the Huskies ran all over their defence. With two games left, UCLA sits at 4-6, and the game was just another sign that the program is headed in the wrong direction.

Clearly recruits have taken notice.

It’s a great example of the difficulty of building a successful college athletics program. Unlike professional sports, where bad teams can rely on the draft, shrewd trading, and big-money signings to rise from the dead, college coaches can rely solely on the art of persuasion. They must convince high-schoolers to commit to their middling program, instead of a super-talented BCS-bound team.